Neck forming method

ABSTRACT

A neckline ( 8 ) is formed between right and left bodies in a first body ( 2 ) of a tubular knitted fabric comprising the first body ( 2 ) and a second body ( 3 ) by a flechage knitting. Widening is performed in the center of the neckline to form outer-layer-neck knitting loops and inner-layer-neck knitting loops. A first neck ( 5   b ) is formed from a whole or a part of the inner-layer-neck knitting loops in the condition that the outer-layer-neck knitting loops are held by the alternate needles on the first needle bed. Whenever a proper number of courses are knitted, the first neck is moved to overlap the loops of the first neck with the loops of the neckline so as to form loops of the next course. This step is repeatedly performed. Then, a second neck ( 5   a ) are formed from a whole or a part of the outer-layer-neck knitting loops. Whenever a proper number of courses are knitted, the second neck is overlapped with the loops of the neckline to form loops of the next course. This step is repeatedly performed. As a result of the steps being taken, a tubular knitwear ( 1 ) having the neck ( 3 ) whose inner layer neck ( 5   b ) and outer layer neck ( 5   a ) are overlapped in two layers is formed.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method of forming a two-layer neck inknitwear knitted in the form of a tubular fabric with its front and backknitted fabrics continuously connected with each other at both endsthereof by using a flat knitting machine comprising at least a pair offront and back needle beds.

BACKGROUND ART

Various proposals are made for knitting knitwear on the flat knittingmachine in a seamless manner, to eliminate or minimize theafter-treatment effort after completion of the knitting. In general,when a sweater is knitted on the flat knitting machine, the front andback bodies are knitted in a tubular form to be continuously connectedwith each other at both ends thereof, while knitting from hems toshoulder. In parallel with this, right and left sleeves located at bothlateral sides of the body are each knitted in a tubular form and joinedto the tubular body, while they are shifted to the body. Then, aftercompletion of the joining of the sleeves to the body, a neck is formedaround a neckline opening in the body by rib knitting or the likeknitting structure. Thereafter, the front body and the back body arejoined together at the shoulder. This knitting method can eliminate orminimize the after-treatment effort after completion of the knitting.

The applicant of this application previously proposed in JP Laid-open(Unexamined) Patent Publication No. 2000-256946 a method of forming aneck around a neckline opening on the flat knitting machine as anexample of the knitting methods that can eliminate or minimize theafter-treatment effort after the completion of knitting. JP Laid-open(Unexamined) Patent Publication No. 2000-256946 discloses a knittingmethod using a flat knitting machine provided with needles, eachcomprising a needle body with a hook at a tip thereof and a slider witha tongue formed by combining two thin plates to hold a formed loop onthe tongue of the slider, so as to perform the holding knitting, whereina two-layer neck is knitted in a front body with successive needles,rather than with selected or dropped-off needles.

The application of the knitting method disclosed in JP Laid-open(Unexamined) Patent Publication No. 2000-256946 to the knitting of thefront and back bodies being formed in a tubular knitted fabric requiresthe 1×3 knitting of forming loops with every three needles for knittingan overlapped-in-two-layer portion of the neck, or requires the flatknitting machine designed for the holding knitting technique to knit theoverlapped-in-two-layer portion of the neck. When the 1×3 knitting isused, sinker loops and the needle loops are badly balanced and also theneck formed lacks of fullness and thus poorly shaped, resulting inreduction of the commercial value of the knitwear itself. Also, theholding knitting technique requires a specific flat knitting machineequipped with a special mechanism for it.

In the light of the problem above, the present invention has been made.It is an object of the present invention to provide a neck formingmethod that can knit a two-layer neck portion in knitwear as knitted inthe form of a tubular fabric with its front and back knitted fabricscontinuously connected with each other at both ends thereof, in such amanner as to eliminate the after-treatment effort, without using the 1×3knitting that can produce the disadvantage that sinker loops and theneedle loops are badly balanced and the neck lacks of fullness, as wellas without proving the flat knitting machine with any special mechanismfor the holding knitting technique.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In order to solve the problem above, the present invention provides aneck forming method of knitting a tubular knitwear on a flat knittingmachine comprising a pair of first and second needle beds arranged infront and back, either of or both of which are slidably moved in atransverse direction, wherein alternate first-body knitting needles onthe needle beds are used to knit a first body (e.g. a front body) andthe remaining alternate second-body knitting needles on the needle bedsare used to knit a second body (e.g. a back body), and the first body isattached to the first needle bed (e.g. the front needle bed) and thesecond body is attached to the second needle bed (e.g. the back needlebed), whereby a tubular knitted fabric with its first and second bodiescontinuously connected with each other at both ends thereof is knittedby a half gauge knitting, starting knitting from hems to a shoulder, andan overlapped-in-two-layer neck portion where an inner layer neck and anouter layer neck are overlapped in two layers is formed in a center of aneckline in the process of the half gauge knitting, the neck formingmethod comprising:

-   -   (a) the step of knitting a 1-a body (e.g. a right front body)        and a 1-b body (e.g. a left front body) diverging from the front        body after the neckline in the front body starts knitting, and        putting the loops to form the neckline into the rested state        sequentially by a flechage knitting, while knitting the bodies        toward the shoulder;    -   (b) the step of widening the loops of the first body in the        center of the neckline and engaging outer-layer-neck knitting        loops and inner-layer-neck knitting loops with the alternate        needles, respectively, and holding either of the        outer-layer-neck knitting loops and the inner-layer-neck        knitting loops on second body knitting needles;    -   (c) the step of starting forming a first neck (e.g. a left neck)        from a whole or a part of the inner-layer-neck knitting loops in        the condition that the outer-layer-neck knitting loops are held        by the alternate needles on the first needle bed and moving the        first neck toward the 1-b body whenever a proper number of        courses are knitted, to overlap the loops of the first neck at        an lateral end thereof with the loops of the neckline so as to        form loops of the next course, the step being repeatedly        performed, and    -   (d) the step of starting forming a second neck (e.g. a right        neck) from a whole or a part of the outer-layer-neck knitting        loops and moving the second neck toward the 1-a body whenever a        proper number of courses are knitted, to overlap the loops of        the second neck at an lateral end thereof with the loops of the        neckline so as to form loops of the next course, the step being        repeatedly performed.

According to the construction of the present invention, with the firstbody attached to the first needle bed and the second body attached tothe second needle bed, the tubular knitted fabric whose first body andsecond body are continuously connected with each other at both endsthereof is knitted using alternate needles, starting from hems toward ashoulder. At the location where the forming of the neckline starts, thefirst body is separated into the 1-a body and the 1-b body to sandwichthe neckline therebetween and starts knitting. The 1-a body, the secondbody, and the 1-b body are knitted, while the yarn feeder is inverted intraveling direction at the neckline on the 1-a body side and at theneckline on the 1-b body side. Then, at the center of the neckline inthe first body, widening is carried out to engage loops to form theinner-layer-neck knitting loops and outer-layer-neck knitting loops withthe alternate needles, respectively. Then, either of theinner-layer-neck knitting loops and the outer-layer-neck knitting loopsare transferred to put them into engagement with the second bodyknitting needles. Then, the inwardly overlapped neck starts knittingfrom a whole or a part of the inner-layer-neck knitting loops and ismoved toward the 1-b body whenever a proper number of courses of theneck are knitted, to overlap the loops of the neck at an lateral endthereof with the loops of the neckline in the 1-b body, so as to formloops of the next course. This step is repeatedly performed to form thefirst neck. Sequentially, the second neck starts knitting from a wholeor a part of the outer-layer-neck knitting loops and is moved toward the1-a body whenever a proper number of courses of the second neck areknitted, to overlap the loops of the second neck at an lateral endthereof with the loops of the neckline in the 1-a body so as to formloops of the next course. This step is repeatedly performed to form thesecond neck. After the release of the loops of the first neck and theouter-layer-neck knitting loops from the overlapping with each other,the second neck can start knitting after the first neck is knitted untilthe end, or the first neck and the second neck can both be knitted inparallel. After the knitting of the first and second necks is completeduntil the end, the loops of the final courses of the 1-a body and 1-bbody and the loops of the final course of the second body are overlappedwith each other to join together the first and second bodies and thenbound off by the binding-off process or the like to prevent loosening ofthe stitches, to complete the knitting of the knitwear.

The neck forming method of the invention is characterized in that in thestep (a), the flechage knitting is carried out to form a V-shapedneckline taking the center of the front body as a boundary; in the step(c), the first neck (e.g. the left neck) is knitted from theinner-layer-neck knitting loops located in the 1-a body (e.g. the rightfront body); and in the step (d), the second neck (e.g. the right neck)is knitted from the outer-layer-neck knitting loops located in the 1-bbody (e.g. the left front body).

This construction of the invention can form a well-shaped neck having aV-shaped bottom where the first and second necks are overlapped witheach other.

Also, the present invention is also characterized in that the first neckand the second neck are formed with a rib knitting structure. Thisconstruction of the present invention can form the neck having goodshape retention and good appearance

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustration showing a sweater having a neck formed by theknitting method of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a knitting courses diagram illustrating the invention.

FIG. 3 is a knitting courses diagram illustrating the invention.

FIG. 4 is a knitting courses diagram illustrating the invention.

FIG. 5 is an illustration showing a sweater having a neck formed by theknitting method of another embodiment of the invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

A certain preferred embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In theembodiment described below, a two-bed flat knitting machine comprising apair of front and back needle beds, the back needle bed of which can beracked transversely relative to the front needle bed, is used for theknitting of the invention. FIG. 1 illustrates a sweater 1 knitted by themethod of the embodiment of the invention. The sweater 1 has a bodycomprising front and back bodies 2, 3 continuously connected with eachother at both ends thereof, and right and left sleeves 7 a, 7 bconnected to the body from sides to a shoulder. The front body 2 has aneck formed along a neckline opening 4, and the neck has atwo-overlapped neck portion formed at a center of the front body 2. Aneck 5 a on the right side (hereinafter it is called the right neck 5 a)formed along a right neckline 8 a of a right front body 2 a is knittedstarting at the right side with respect to the center of the front body2. A neck 5 b on the left side (hereinafter it is called the left neck 5b) formed along a left neckline 8 b of a left front body 2 b is knittedstarting at the left side with respect to the center of the front body2. The loops of the final courses of the right neck 5 a and left neck 5b are overlapped with the loops of the final course of the back body 3and then bound off by a known binding-off process.

In the following, the knitting of forming the two-overlapped neckportion in the sweater 1 will be described. It is to be noted that aneven fewer number of needles than the actual number of needles isillustrated for explanatory convenience. As the method of knitting thefront and back bodies 2, 3 and the right and left sleeves 7 a, 7 b intoa tubular body starting at the hems 6 and at the cuffs, respectively,and then joining to each other from the sides to the shoulder is alreadyknown, the description of the embodiment is limited to the knittingafter the start of forming the neckline opening 4. Although after thestart of forming the necks 6 a, 5 b, the forming of the necks 6 a, 5 band the joining of the sleeves 7 a, 7 b to the bodies 2, 3 are carriedout concurrently, the description on the knitting of joining the sleeves7 a, 7 b and the front and back bodies 2, 3 is omitted for the samereason.

The course 1 of FIG. 1 illustrates the state at the point when theknitting to be completed before the start of knitting the neckline 8 iscompleted. Alternate needles on the needle bed (e.g. odd-numberedneedles from the left end of the needle bed) are used to knit the frontbody 2 or the first body of the knitwear, and the remaining alternativeneedles (e.g. even-numbered needles from the left end of the needle bed)are used to knit the back body 3 or the second body of the knitwear. Thefront body 2 is attached to the front needle bed and the back body 3 isattached to the back needle bed, for the half-gauge knitting. In thehalf-gauge knitting, for example when the back body 3 is knitted, theback body 3 is knitted in the state in which the loops of the front body2 are all held by the needles of the front needle bed. The front body 2as is in this state is expressed here as being attached to the frontneedle bed. On the other hand, when the front body 2 is knitted, thefront body 2 is knitted in the state in which the loops of the back body2 are all held by the needles of the back needle bed. The back body 3 asis in this state is expressed here as being attached to the back needlebed. As the half gauge knitting is already disclosed in JP PatentPublication No. Hei 3-75656 as previously filed by the same applicant,any further description thereon is omitted.

In the course 1 of FIG. 2, only the loops of the necks 5 a, 5 b in thecenter of the neckline 8 formed in the front and back bodies 2, 3 areshown. The remaining portions of the bodies 2, 3 and right and leftsleeves 7 a, 7 b are knitted in the regions on the outer side of theregion illustrated in the course 1. The loops depicted by black circlesin the course 1 are those in the region from which the knitting of theoverlapped-in-two-layer portion of the neck 5 a, 5 b is started, and theregion corresponds to the region indicated by Y in FIG. 1. The knittingto form the overlapped-in-two-layer portion of the neck 5 a, 5 b isstarted from the course 2. In the courses 2-19 of FIG. 2, the rightfront body 2 a and the left front body 2 b are knitted by the flechageknitting to form the neckline 8 before the necks 5 a, 5 b are formed. Inthe courses 2 and 3, the left front body 2 b is knitted by the flechageknitting, during which the needle K of the front needle bed FB holdingthe loop at the lateral end of the right front body 2 a is kept in itsrest state until the forming of the necks 5 a, 5 b is started. In thenext course 4, the back body 3 is knitted. In the courses 5 and 6, theleft front body 2 b is knitted by the flechage knitting, during whichthe needle M of the front needle bed holding the loop at the lateral endof the left front body 2 b is kept in its rest state.

In the course 7, the back body 3 is knitted again. In the remainingcourses from the course 8, while the knitting of the courses 2-7 isrepeated, the needles in the region corresponding to the neckline 8 areput in the rest state sequentially, to form the V-shaped neckline 8. Inthis embodiment, reference is made to the knitting wherein the formingof the necks 5 a, 5 b is not started until after completion of theknitting of the right front body 2 a and left front body 2 b up to theirfinal courses to join them to the back body 3. The right and left frontbodies 2 a, 2 b and the sleeves 7 a, 7 b need not necessarily be knittedup to the final courses before the start of forming of the necks 5 a, 5b. Another knitting may also be taken wherein the knitting of the rightand left front bodies 2 a, 2 b and the sleeves 7 a, 7 b is interrupted,the forming of the necks 5 a, 5 b is started, and then the necks 5 a, 5b, the bodies 2, 3 and the sleeves 7 a, 7 b are knitted in parallel.

In the case where the forming of the necks 5 a, 5 b is not started untilafter the right and left front bodies 2 a, 2 b are knitted until theend, as mentioned above, the loops in the region Z are put in the reststate for the flechage knitting. With reference to FIGS. 3 and 4,description is given on the forming of the necks 5 a, 5 b. The course 1of FIG. 3 shows the state in which all the loops in the flechageknitting region Z are knitted up. The loops as were put in the reststate for the flechage knitting are held on the front needle bed, andthe loops of the final course of the back body 3 are held on the backneedle bed. In the course 2, a yarn is fed to the needles holdingthereon the loops in the region Z and put in the rest state, thenstarting knitting to form the necks 5 a, 5 b in the region Y. In thecourse 2, the yarn is fed to the loops of the neckline 8. Also, theneedles G, I, K, M, O, Q of the front needle bed FB are shifted up tothe transference positions in the region Y where the forming of thenecks 5 a, 5 b is started, pushing loop opening members into the loopsto spread the loops. In addition, the needles g, i, k, m, o, q of theback needle bed BB are shifted up, moving their hooks into the loopsheld by the needles G, I, K, M, O, Q of the front needle bed FB.Simultaneously, the yarn is fed to the needles G, I, K, M, O, Q of thefront needle bed FB, passing under the loops to be transferred to theneedles g, I, k, m, o, q of the back needle bed, to form loops in thesplit knit. In the course 3, the loops as transferred to the back needlebed in the course 2 are transferred back to the needles H, J, L, N, P, Rof the front needle bed as used to form the back body 3, before theforming of the necks 5 a, 5 b is started. In the following description,the loops held by the needles G, I, K, M, O, Q of the front needle bedin the course 2 are expressed as the inner-layer-neck knitting loops(left neck 5 b), and the loops held by the needles g, i, k, m, o, q ofthe back needle bed are expressed as the outer-layer-neck knitting loops(right neck 5 a). However, selection of the inner-layer-neck knittingloops or the outer-layer-neck knitting loops from the loops formed bythe split knit in the course 2 and held on the front needle bed and theback needle bed can be made arbitrarily.

In the course 4, the loops in wales to be formed as back stitches of ribknitting are previously transferred to the back needle bed before theknitting of the left neck 5 b. In the course 5, the yarn is fed to theleft front body 2 b leftwards to knit the left neck 5 b by the ribknitting using the inner-layer-neck knitting loops in three wales in theright front body. At this time, the outer-layer-neck knitting loops(right neck 5 a) are all held on the back body knitting needles on thefront needle bed. In the course 6, the left neck 5 b is formed in thesame manner as in the course 5. In the course 7, the loop in the needle1 of the front needle bed is transferred to the back needle bed.Thereafter, the loops of the left neck 5 b are racked rightwards twopitches, respectively, and transferred to the front needle bed. At thistime, the loop transferred is overlapped with the loop of the neckline 8a of the left front body 2 a at the needle M of the front needle bed aswas put in the rest state during the flechage knitting. In the course 9,the loops in wales to be formed as back stitches are transferred to theback needle bed. In the courses 10 and 11, the left neck 5 b is knittedby the rib knitting. In the course 12, the loop in the needle K istransferred to the back needle bed, and in the course 13, the loops ofthe left neck 5 b are racked rightwards two pitches, respectively, andtransferred to the front needle bed. The knitting shown in the courses9-13 above is repeatedly performed to form the left neck 5 b along theneckline 8 b of the left front body 2 b. The loops of the left frontbody 2 b to be overlapped with the loops of the left neck 5 b at thelateral end are loops of the neckline 8 b of the left body 2 b includingthe left neck knitting loops located in the region where the splitstitch (widening) was performed. After this, the yarn is fed from rightto left to the back body 3 held by the needles of the back needle bed bythe knitting, not shown, and then the yarn feeder is moved leftwardsbefore the knitting of the right neck 5 a.

Next, the knitting of the right neck 5 a will be described withreference to FIG. 4. In the course 1, the loops as transferred in thecourse 3 of FIG. 3 are held by the needles H, J, L, N, P, R of the frontneedle bed. In the course 2, after the back needle bed is rackedleftwards one pitch, the loops in wales to be formed as the backstitches of the right neck 5 a are transferred to empty needles of theback needle bed. In the course 3, the yarn is fed rightwards from theyarn feeder as previously moved leftwards before the knitting of theright front body 2 a, and the right front body 2 a and the right neck 5a are knitted. In the course 4, the right neck 5 a is knitting by ribknitting. In the course 5, the loop in the needle P is transferred tothe back needle bed. In the course 6, the right neck 5 a is rackedleftwards two pitches and transferred to the front needle bed, so thatthe loop of the right neck 5 a at the left end is overlapped with theloop of the neckline 8 a of the right front body 2 a. In the course 7,the loops in wales to be formed as back stitches of rib knitting aretransferred to the back needle bed. In the courses 10 and 11, the leftneck 5 b is knitted by the rib knitting. In the courses 8 and 9, theright neck 5 a is knitted in rib knitting feeding the yarn to the rightneck 5 a. In the course 10, the loop in the needle N is transferred tothe back needle bed. In the course 11, the loops of the right neck 5 aare racked leftwards two pitches and transferred to the front needlebed, so that the loop of the right neck 5 a at the left end isoverlapped with the loop of the neckline 8 a. After this, the sameknitting as in the knitting in the courses 7-11 is repeatedly performedto form the right neck 5 a along the neckline 8 a of the right frontbody 2 a. The loops of the right front body 2 a to be overlapped withthe loops of the right neck 5 a at the lateral end are loops of theneckline 8 a of the right body 2 a including the right neck knittingloops located in the region where the split stitch (widening) wasperformed. The loops of the final course of the right neck 5 a areoverlapped with the loops of the back body 3 and bound off by thebinding-off or the like to prevent loosening of the stitches to completethe forming of the neck. The neck forming method mentioned above canallow the forming of an overlapped-in-two-layer portion of the right andleft necks 5 a, 5 b in the center of the front body 2.

In the embodiment mentioned above, the forming of the necks 5 a, 5 b isnot started until after completion of the knitting of the right frontbody 2 a and left front body 2 b up to their final courses. Thisknitting is not limitative. An alternative knitting may be adopted suchas, for example, the knitting technique that after the knitting of theright and left front bodies 2 a, 2 b is knitted partway by the flechageknitting, the necks 5 a, 5 b, the front bodies 2 a, 2 b, and the sleeves7 a, 7 b are formed in parallel with each other. In the knitting methodof the embodiment of the invention, when the overlapped-in-two-layerportion of the right and left necks 5 a, 5 b is formed, one of the necks(left neck 5 b) is knitted successively until the loops at the left endof the left neck 5 b are moved to the left side with respect to the loopat the right end of the right neck 5 a, so the left neck is knitted upuntil the position where the left neck 5 b does not hinder thetransference of the right neck 5 a when moved leftwards. Thereafter, theknitting of the other of the necks (right neck 5 a) is started. Hence,this knitting technique enables the necks 5 a, 5 b to be knitted in thestate in which three parts of the knitted fabrics are overlapped inthree layers. Also, since the knitting method of the embodiment of theinvention can keep the empty needles used for the rib knitting, thenecks 5 a, 5 b can be formed with the rib knitting structure.

Although the neck comprising the right and left necks 5 a, 5 b formed tohave a V-shaped bottom portion where the right and left necks 5 a, 5 bare crossed each other has been described above, the neck 11 is formedto have a flattened bottom at the bottom where a right neck 11 a and aleft neck 11 b are crossed each other, as shown in FIG. 5. In a sweater12 shown in FIG. 5, a right front body 14 a and a left front body 14 bare knitted by the flechage knitting, while the loops in the regionlocated in the center of the neckline 13 are put in the rested state.Then, after completion of the flechage knitting, the widening isperformed for the loops in the rested region, then starting knitting ofthe inner layer neck portion or the left neck 11 b from all theinner-layer-neck knitting loops as widened and also starting knitting ofthe outer layer neck portion or the right neck ha from all theouter-layer-neck knitting loops in the same manner.

Although the embodiment of the knitting using the two-bed flat knittingmachine comprising a pair of front and back needle beds has beendescribed above, the knitting method of the invention can also bepracticed by using a three-bed or four-bed flat knitting machine havingan upper auxiliary needle bed(s) placed over the pair of front and backneedle beds. Also, although the embodiment wherein the new loops areformed by widening at the location at which the forming of the neck 5 a,5 b starts has been described above, the alternative may be adopted suchas, for example, forming the loops by empty knitting. Also, the neck canbe knitted to have the other knitting structure than the 1×1 ribknitting.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As mentioned above, the neck forming method of the present invention canbring the forming of the neck of a specific form into a finishing staterequiring no after-treatment, for which some after-treatment wasrequired hitherto after completion of the knitting on the flat knittingmachine, by using a common flat knitting machine with no specialmechanism, such as the holding mechanism. Also, the 1×3 knitting to formloops with every three needles is not needed for knitting anoverlapped-in-three-layer portion where the back body and the two-layerneck are overlapped with each other and accordingly the sinker loops andthe needle loops can be kept from being badly balanced. Hence, theknitwear product having the neck rich in fullness and solidness of highcommercial value can be produced.

1. A neck forming method of knitting a tubular knitwear on a flatknitting machine comprising a pair of first and second needle bedsarranged in front and back, either of or both of which are slidablymoved in a transverse direction, wherein alternate first-body knittingneedles on the needle beds are used to knit a first body (e.g. a frontbody) and the remaining alternate second-body knitting needles on theneedle beds are used to knit a second body (e.g. a back body), and thefirst body is attached to the first needle bed (e.g. the front needlebed) and the second body is attached to the second needle bed (e.g. theback needle bed), whereby a tubular knitted fabric with its first andsecond bodies continuously connected with each other at both endsthereof is knitted by a half gauge knitting, starting knitting from hemsto a shoulder, and an overlapped-in-two-layer neck portion where aninner layer neck and an outer layer neck are overlapped in two layers isformed in a center of a neckline in the process of the half gaugeknitting, the neck forming method comprising: (a) the step of knitting a1-a body (e.g. a right front body) and a 1-b body (e.g. a left frontbody) diverging from the front body after the neckline in the front bodystarts knitting, and putting the loops to form the neckline into therested state sequentially by a flechage knitting, while knitting thebodies toward the shoulder; (b) the step of widening the loops of thefirst body in the center of the neckline and engaging outer-layer-neckknitting loops and inner-layer-neck knitting loops with the alternateneedles, respectively, and holding either of the outer-layer-neckknitting loops and the inner-layer-neck knitting loops on second bodyknitting needles; (c) the step of starting forming a first neck (e.g. aleft neck) from a whole or a part of the inner-layer-neck knitting loopsin the condition that the outer-layer-neck knitting loops are held bythe alternate needles on the first needle bed and moving the first necktoward the 1-b body whenever a proper number of courses are knitted, tooverlap the loops of the first neck at an lateral end thereof with theloops of the neckline so as to form loops of the next course, the stepbeing repeatedly performed, and (d) the step of starting forming asecond neck (e.g. a right neck) from a whole or a part of theouter-layer-neck knitting loops and moving the second neck toward the1-a body whenever a proper number of courses are knitted, to overlap theloops of the second neck at an lateral end thereof with the loops of theneckline so as to form loops of the next course, the step beingrepeatedly performed.
 2. The neck forming method according to claim 1,wherein in the step (a) of claim 1, the flechage knitting is carried outto form a V-shaped neckline taking the center of the front body as aboundary; in the step (c), the first neck (e.g. the left neck) isknitted from the inner-layer-neck knitting loops located in the 1-a body(e.g. the right front body); and in the step (d), the second neck (e.g.the right neck) is knitted from the outer-layer-neck knitting loopslocated in the 1-b body (e.g. the left front body).
 3. The neck formingmethod according to claim 1, wherein the first neck and the second neckare formed with a rib knitting structure.